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Battles of Fredericksburg 
and Chancellorsville, Virginia 



By V. M. FLEMING 

Fredericksburg, V;. 




1921 

W. C. Hill Printing Company 

Richmond, Va. 



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Battles of Fredericksburg 
and Chancellorsville, Virginia 



By V. M. FLEMING 




1921 

W. C. Hill Printing Company 

Richmond, Va. 



£41 V 

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FOREWORD 



These two battles, as all the balance I have written, are 
compendiums from the best historical accounts which are 
attainable, aided by my own personal experiences, as well as 
those from friends, who were authoritative sources of informa- 
tion. Careful revision of it all, as to actual occurrences, and 
that given largely in detail, illuminated with incidents, gives a 
reality to these scenes as well as an interest to the story. 

V. M. Fleming, 

Author. 



Battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia. 



A FTER the Maryland Campaign the army had all settled 
/■% back for temporary rest on Virginia soil again. Jack- 
son's army settled north of Winchester, and Lee, with 
Longstreet, held their camp also south of the town. It was 
here that Colonel Garnet Wolseley, of the English army (after- 
wards General Wolseley, commander-in-chief of that army), 
with other British officers, visited Lee. 

Lee had no personal animosity of any kind and was always 
anxious to do good unto his enemies. As an instance, was his 
desire to return General Kearney's sword to his wife, as an 
appreciation of gallantry on the part of that Federal officer, 
who was killed at Second Manassas. 

Stuart kept watch on McClellan's movements. This great 
leader was happy-hearted and a devout Christian. The chap- 
lains of the army were very zealous and faithful in their work. 
Stragglers from all parts of the country were coming in, so 
the army was daily on the increase in numbers, and a spirit 
of religious fervor seemed to pervade the whole of Lee's 
command. 

The artillery of the Army of Northern Virginia was a 
splendid arm of the service. The First Regiment of Virginia 
Artillery was the only organization of the kind in the Virginia 
army, for other batteries were formed into battalions, or were 
separate companies attached to brigades of infantry or cavalry. 
The regiment referred to consisted of something like twelve bat- 
teries, with probably five guns each, making in all something like 
sixty field pieces. 

The guns of this regiment were in most of the sharply- 
contested battles of Valley Campaign as well as Eastern Vir- 
ginia. I recall a number of these battalions composing this regi- 
ment — viz., two companies of the Richmond Howitzers — Second 
and Third ; the Powhatan artillery ; Roanoke battery ; Rock- 
bridge artillery. Others I don't remember. 



8 Battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia. 

It was composed of the best blood in the nation and, in a 
measure, of University of Virginia students and alumni of that 
institution, as well as students of Washington College and 
other Virginia colleges. Colonel J. Thompson Brown, himself 
an alumnus, was its colonel, and Lieutenant-Colonel Lewis 
Minor Coleman, its lieutenant-colonel. He, too, was not only 
an alumnus of the University of Virginia, but the professor 
of Latin in that institution when the war began. We will make 
reference later to the service of this regiment. 

Jackson's army, as stated, was north of Winchester. Gen- 
eral Lee, with Longstreet, was south of that town. This was 
early in October, 1862. Lee was anxious to draw the Federals 
into the Valley, but evidently this was not McClellan's design. 
He was anxious to get information of their movements, from 
which to deduce some idea as to his plans, and to this end 
he sent Stuart into Maryland again. Stuart crossed at 
Williamsport, Md., and moved on Chambersburg, Pa. This 
was October 11, 1862. This invasion of Stuart's enabled him 
to get fresh horses and equip his command comfortably in 
other respects. McClellan's objective point was Richmond, of 
course. Stuart's invasion started McClellan again, who moved 
his army east of the Blue Ridge. Lee, divining his purpose, 
moved Longstreet's corps east of the mountains. 

The bloody year of 1862 was now drawing towards its close. 
This year of carnage was not to close till victory had again 
perched upon the Confederate banner, which it did in the clos- 
ing days of that year at Fredericksburg, A'a. October found 
Lee's army greatly recruited by large accessions to his ranks 
of men who had straggled from the army and, from various 
causes, sickness, etc., were returning again, but even then it 
scarcely numbered more than 70,000. 

McClellan's army now numbered something like 125,000 
men, who occupied a line between Bull Run and the Rappa- 
hannock. Twenty-two thousand were near Harper's Ferry 
and Martinsburg and 80,000 in the defenses around Washing- 
ton city, thus making this formidable Federal force something 
like 225,000. 



Battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia. 9 

While in his headquarters at Warrenton, Va., in November, 
1862, McClellan was deposed by the Federal Government and 
Burnside put in command. About November 15th, this army, 
now under Burnside, commenced to move eastward down the 
Rappahannock river. Stuart informed Lee of the movement 
of the Federals. Thus informed, he marched Longstreet's 
corps from Culpeper to the south of the Rappahannock, and 
before the closing days of November, 1862, Lee occupied 
Marye's Heights. 

Jackson, being left behind at Winchester, tore up the Balti- 
more and Ohio Railroad. Indeed, made a perfect wreck of the 
road around Harper's Ferry and Martinsburg before march- 
ing eastward across the Blue Ridge to join Lee. It was a 
memorable day when Jackson's army marched through the 
streets of Winchester. They left behind them bright and in- 
spiring history, as well as beautiful girls. Every hill and 
valley around the town brought associations of some kind of 
heroic deed to the minds of Jackson's men. 

Whither we were going we knew not, but up the valley 
Jackson's host marched. At Mt. Jackson we turned to the 
left, the column heading for Brown's Gap in the Blue Ridge 
and around the head of Massanutton mountain. Right vividly 
do I recall this march. It was about the close of November, 
1862. When we reached the foot of the pass the black ominous 
clouds lowered over the mountains. The head of the column 
moved up the mountain side about half way, when the snow 
began to fall heavily, penetrating the cloud reefs until we 
ascended above them, where all was sunshine and light, and 
from the top we could look back at the column emerging from 
out of the cloud, and, further yet, till it was lost in the dark- 
ness below. We continued our march across the mountain and 
by Orange Courthouse and down the Plank road, leaving 
Fredericksburg to the left — going around the town — continu- 
ing our march till we reached Port Royal, twenty miles below 
Fredericksburg. A large portion of Jackson's infantry went 
into camp higher up and nearer the town of Fredericksburg. 

Fredericksburg is now between two hostile armies, the citi- 



10 Battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia. 

zens driven out by command of the Federal officer in charge, 
with the threat that unless they left he would open fire on the 
town. How well they got paid for this unparalleled cruelty ! 
General Lee's tribute to the noble people of Fredericksburg, I 
cannot omit here: "History presents no instance of a purer 
and more unselfish patriotism or a higher spirit of fortitude 
and courage than was evinced by the citizens of Fredericks- 
burg." 

It was Lee's first intention, and heartily concurred in by 
Jackson, to make his stand upon the line of the North Anna 
river, forty miles south of Fredericksburg. The conception 
of such a plan was easily understood. The position was as 
good as along the Rappahannock, beside the fact that a vic- 
tory on the North Anna would have amounted to something, 
as the enemy would be further from his base of supplies as 
well as from his base of defense, neither of which advantage 
obtained at Fredericksburg and along the Rappahannock, for 
when the Federal army was beaten at Fredericksburg we could 
not advance and reap the fruit of the victory by reason of 
their heavy guns on the Stafford Heights and the impossibility 
of crossing the Rappahannock, and even then a flank move- 
ment would have been impossible. The only inducement, there- 
fore, which Lee had to receive the Federal attack at Fred- 
ericksburg instead of the North Anna was the section of coun- 
try between the two rivers, which, in a sense, was productive 
and contributed largely to the support of the army. 

Upon Stafford Heights Burnsidc had 150 heavy guns be- 
sides over 116,000 men, including infantry and artillery. 
Burnside thought all of Jackson's army was at Port Royal. 
The Federals began to build their pontoon bridges opposite 
Fredericksburg, but were delayed and prevented for days by 
Barksdale's men, who occupied old houses on the river banks 
and, acting as sharpshooters, picked the bridge men off as fast 
as they came down to the river. The bridge-builders made 
eight or nine different efforts to place their pontoon boats, 
but were driven back each time in confusion. At last Burn- 
side's batteries were turned loose upon the town and the river 



Battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia. 11 

banks and places of concealment of Barksdale's men, and they 
were routed. 

All this delay was giving Lee time for preparation in get- 
ing his field pieces upon the crest of Marye's Hill. Under 
cover of the Federal guns these pontoon bridges were built, 
and the Federal army proceeded across into the town of 
Fredericksburg. Lee at once, on the morning of December 
12th, notified Jackson, and that day witnessed A. P. Hill and 
Taliaferro going into position on the right of Marye's Hill. 
The heavy fog on the morning of December 12th concealed the 
passage across the river, lower down, of Franklin's corps — 
55,000 men with 116 pieces of artillery. While this force was 
moving to attack Jackson on Bernard's Flats, Sumner was 
advancing upon Longstreet's front and having his men fear- 
fully slaughtered. Charge after charge ! Four successive 
charges against this double line of Confederates. It looked \ 
like madness. The Confederate artillery, under Colonel Alex- 
ander, was planted upon the top of Marye's Hill, while at the 
foot of the hill and in a road — called in history the "Sunken 
Road" — running around the base, the brigades of Cobb's 
Georgians and Kershaw's South Carolinians lay behind a stone 
wall. Hence, one could see at a glance that the brigades of 
Meagher, Sumner and others, as they advanced, were played 
on by both arms of the service at the same time — the infantry 
at the foot of the hill and the artillery from the crest, the latter 
firing over the heads of the former into the ranks of the enemy, 
while our infantry was augmenting the toll of death by their 
terrific fire from behind the stone wall. The whole plain in 
front of Marye's Hill was strewn with Federal dead and each 
successive charge upon our line was much impeded by the 
accumulation of the Federal dead in front of our guns. This 
was a fearful carnage. 

General Thomas Pi. R. Cobb was killed on this line in front ~>> 
of his brigade and adjacent to the home of Mrs. Martha 
Stevens. He was struck by a fragment of shell. This brave 
woman was on the front of the line attending to the wounded, 
and when General Cobb fell she tore the bottom of her skirt 



12 Battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia. 

off and bandaged his wounds, stopping the flow of blood. He 
died in a few hours, however. Mrs. Stevens lived in the hearts 
of the Confederate soldiers, and her benediction will ever be a 
memorial to them. Many of those old men have been reunited 
with this woman of blessed memory in the world beyond, I 
am sure. 

Now we will take a glance at Jackson's part of the line, 
\ which was the right wing of General Lee's army, lower down 
the river near Hamilton's Crossing and in front of which was 
Franklin's artillery of 116 pieces. Different army corps were 
all in line of battle the morning of December 13th, and when 
the fog lifted the beautiful panorama surpassed any pen picture 
which I have ever seen. 

The First Virginia Artillery, commanded by Colonel Lewis 
M. Coleman, had marched all that night — twenty miles from 
Port Royal — to get up to the scene of battle. When we reached 
Hamilton's Crossing in the early morning the night was very 
dark and the darkness intensified by this heavy fog, which 
enwrapped everything in its sable folds. Snow was on the 
ground. While waiting for orders, Major Pelham, chief of 
artillery on Stuart's staff, rode up and informed Colonel Cole- 
man that the enemy had crossed the river in a large force with 
heavy parks of artillery and large bodies of infantry- His 
front was confronted by some brigade artillery and some bat- 
talion batteries and Stuart's horse artillery, making a poorly 
equipped front as opposed to this splendid Federal armament 
as described by Pelham. He asked Colonel Coleman to let him 
have thirty pieces of artillery to help him out on this front. 
The Colonel quickly sent orders to the captain of each battery, 
there being about twelve batteries, I think. The First Regi- 
ment of Artillery furnished Pelham about thirty pieces, and 
splendid pieces they were, well manned and well officered, so 
everything was ready, all guns limbered up and ready to dash 
down into the valley of death as soon as the fog uplifted. 

Soon the mist drifted away and the sun of that December 
day came out in all of its splendor. At once the evolution be- 
gan. Pen can never describe that artillery as they dashed 



Battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia. 13 

behind the hill and down into the plateau, like some great whip- 
cord uncoiling — Pelham at the head, one piece going into posi- 
tion, another fifty yards further, and yet further, until a line 
of 1,500 yards was subtended, each piece firing as it went into 
position, until every piece was in line, and then a constant sheet 
of flame bursting from the muzzles of these guns ! General Lee 
rode down the line about that time and turning to Jackson 
said, "General, it is wonderful to see so young a man as Pelham 
so brave. Oh, that we had a Pelham on each flank !" 

The fire in front of Pelham's guns was very destructive. 
The Federals stood well to their pieces till late in the day, when 
their artillery line began to waver perceptibly. They visited 
great destruction upon our ranks also. This was a fearful 
artillery duel, lasting nearly all day. As some writer has put 
it : "Like grass before the scythe Franklin's soldiers went down 
under the Confederate fire." 

The destruction of guns and loss of life on both sides AaasraW**^ 
very great. When this Federal artillery began to waver and, 
piece by piece, fall back, the advance of the Confederate bat- 
teries closing up on them created an entire giving away of their 
whole line of artillery. A gallant act on the part of one of 
their officers in attempting to rally the men and get them into 
formation, rode to the front on a milk white horse, waving his 
sword as if to spur them on, but was shot from his horse by one 
of the rifle pieces of the First Regiment. The rider was killed 
instantly, this solid shot going through his body, while the 
horse turned and galloped back into the Federal lines. 

Further back, and on a line beyond the scene described, 
they did get another formation of their artillery which put the 
Confederates at a disadvantage, as our guns were not on a 
parity with theirs, and while they had us in their range, they 
were beyond the range of our field pieces. Just then General 
Stuart rode up and took the situation in at a glance and 
ordered one piece of the First Regiment to stop firing and 
limber up, and with this one piece he galloped up to the front 
and far beyond the line held by the enemy in the morning. 
This cannon was pushed up on their front as far as it could 



14 Battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia. 

go ; was prevented from getting closer by reason of an im- 
passable ditch that ran between the two lines, but this was close 
enough to get the enemy in good range of our pieces, so that 
the gun unlimbered and went into action, and all the rest of the 
field pieces came up and dressed on that point, and all along on 
that ditch bank to the right our whole artillery had the enemy 
in full range. 

The closing hours of that day witnesed terrible slaughter 
on both sides. The enemy's lines were entirely broken and 
before darkness came on their guns had been almost entirely 
silenced and Franklin's whole line was getting back across the 
river on their pontoons. 

In the early morning, higher up the line and beyond a body 
of scrub oak trees, to the right of the railroad fronting Fred- 
ericksburg, a body of Federal troops under Gibbon and French 
formed, and emerging from behind this obstruction, charged 
and broke through A. P. Hill's skirmish line and attacked 
Gregg's South Carolinians, who were entirely out of formation 
at that time, as Gregg least expected an attack from that point. 
At first General Gregg thought the troops Confederates. This 
threw Gregg's men into confusion and he, in attempting to 
form the line of battle, fell, near Hamilton's Crossing. 

Just at this time Generals Early and Taliaferro's Virgin- 
ians, of Jackson's Stonewall corps, came up and, taking in the 
situation, charged with great spirit and drove the Federals back 
with terrible destruction, and as they fell back our line was re- 
established here, and as the enemy was driven back bv Early 
and Taliaferro, that part of the First Virginia Artillery di- 
rectly under command of Colonel Coleman opened on their flee- 
ing columns and largely augmented their death roll. Colonel 
Coleman, himself, at this point was mortally wounded, from 
which he succumbed two months later. Xo braver soldier had 
offered up his life on the altar of his country than Colonel 
Lewis Minor Coleman; The same shell, the fragment of which 
gave Colonel Coleman his death wound, blew off the head of 
Randolph Fairfax, who was a student at the University of 



Battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia. 



15 



Virginia under Colonel Coleman. Both professor and student 
killed by the same shell ! 

Summing up that day's fight : The Federal loss was some- 
thing near 13,000; that of the Confdeerates 5,000, and these 
mostly fell on Bernard's Flats and to the right and left of 
Hamilton's Crossing. The Confederate losses were most heavy 
on Jackson's part of the line. The left wing of our army, 
under Longstreet, did not suffer so much, as they fought the 
enemy from elevated positions. 




Battle of Chancellorsville, Virginia. 



A FTER the Battle of Fredericksburg, December 12th 
r\ and 13th, 1862, the Army of the Potomac still stayed 
in their old camp on the left side of the Rappahannock 
until the latter part of January, 1863. It was then that Burn- 
side was deposed and Hooker put in command of the Army of 
the Potomac. 

The appointment, accompanied by a letter to Hooker from 
President Lincoln, was anything but complimentary ; rather 
reflected upon Hooker's deficiencies and unfitness for the ap- 
pointment, but as a last resort he was selected. It would not 
be out of place to give here the letter in full. (Under those 
conditions, almost any officer would have declined the appoint- 
ment) : 

Executive Office, 

Washington, D. C, 
January 26, 1863. 

"Major-General Hooker: I have placed you at the 
head of the Army of the Potomac. Of course I have 
done this upon what appears to me sufficient reasons, 
and yet I think that it is best for you to know that 
there are some things in regard to which I am not 
satisfied with you. I believe you to be a brave and 
skillful soldier, which, of course, I like; I also believe 
that you do not mix politics with your profession, in 
which you are right. You have confidence in yourself, 
which is a valuable, if not an indispensable quality. 
You have ambition, which, in reasonable bounds, does 
good rather than harm, but I think that during Gen- 
eral Burnside's command of the army you have taken 
counsel of your ambition and thwarted him as much 
as you could, in which you did great wrong, both to 



18 Battle of Chancellorsville, Virginia. 

the country and to a meritorious and honorable 
brother officer. 

"I have heard, in such a way as to believe it, of 
you recently saying that both the army and the Gov- 
ernment needed a dictator. Of course it was not for 
this, but in spite of it, that I have given you this com- 
mand. Only those generals who have gained success 
can set up as dictators. What I now ask of you is 
military success, and I will risk the dictatorship. The 
Government will support you to the utmost of its 
ability, which is neither more nor less than it has 
done and will do for all its commanders. I much fear 
the spirit you have aided to infuse into the army of 
criticising their commander and withholding con- 
fidence from him, will now turn upon you. I shall 
assist you as far as I can to put it down. Neither 
you nor Napoleon, if he were alive again, could get 
any good out of an army while such a spirit prevails 
in it. And now, beware of rashness, but with energy 
and sleepless vigilance, go forward and give us vic- 
tories. 

"Yours very truly, 

"A. Lixcoxx." 

So you see that Hooker took charge of the army under 
very great misgivings on the part of President Lincoln. 

In April, 1863, Hooker begins his move on the military 
chess board with an army of 131,000 men. He was attempting 
a movement across the Rappahannock river against Lee with 
an army of 53,000. "During that time Jackson kept watch 
with his army of 33,000, from Hamilton's Crossing down to 
Port Royal."' 

"Left of Jackson was McLaws' Division of 8,000 men. 
This extended to Bank's ford." Above this, all the fords of 
the river were guarded by Stuart with something like 2,700 
cavalry and Anderson's 8,000 infantry. The elevations along 
this entire line were crowned with Confederate artillery. 



Battle of Chancellorsville, Virginia. 19 

Longstreet's army at this time was at Suffolk, Va. Hooker's 
plan seems to have been — making this crossing of the river 
below Fredericksburg — a ruse to take General Lee's attention 
from the main purpose of his movement. This crossing below 
the town of Fredericksburg was made by Sedgwick with three 
army corps, while the rest of his army folded their tents like 
the Arabs and quietly stole away up the river to Kelly's ford. 
Two weeks previous to this movement of Hooker's Stone- 
man had purposed to interpose a body of 10,000 cavalry be- 
tween Lee and Richmond, and when Hooker should drive Lee's 
army into the net, it would be an easy prey. Knowing Lee and 
Jackson as the Federals did, this was rather visionary, and it 
is hard to understand how any such a conception should have 
made its lodgment in the brain of either Hooker or Stoneman. 
This project, however, was never carried into execution, as the 
down pour of rain swelled the Rappahannock to such an extent 
that Stoneman was delayed. 

There was that military instinct of Lee's — if we could so 
employ that term — which enabled him to divine almost with a 
certainty the designs of the enemy. His letter to Jackson, 
dated April 23d, shows how well Lee interpreted Hooker's 
movement in this case. Lee writes : 

"I think from the account given me by Lieutenant- 
Colonel Smith, of the Engineers (who was at Port 
Royal yesterday), of the enemy's operations there the 
day and night previous, that his purpose is to draw 
our troops in that direction while he attempts a pas- 
sage elesewhere. I would not, then, send down more 
troops than are actually necessary. I will notify 
Generals McLaws and Anderson to be on the alert, for 
I think that if any real attempt is made, it will be 
above Fredericksburg." 

The subsequent development of Hooker's movement showed 
how accurately Lee divined his purpose. 

April 27th, after the flood subsided, three Federal corps. 



20 Battle of Chancellorsville, Virginia. 

commanded by Slocum, commenced their march up the river, 
as Lee predicted, and on April 29th this force had crossed the 
Rappahannock at two fords, Ely and Germanna. Later in the 
day (April 29th) "Stuart reported two Federal forces ap- 
proaching the Rapidan." This movement clearly indicated 
that Hooker was trying to make an attack upon General Lee's 
rear, but Lee was too alert to be caught in any such trap. 
That night Lee ordered Anderson westward to attack Hooker, 
and Stuart to meet that force which crossed at Germanna (the 
home of Alexander Spottswood, Colonial Governor of Virginia 
in 1716, trained in Marlboro's army and wounded at the battle 
of Blenheim ; known in Virginia as Chief of the Knights of the 
Golden Horseshoe). 

"Late at night Anderson met Mahone and Posy at Chan- 
cellorsville, falling back before Hooker's advance columns." 
Stoneman, whose movement then was in the direction of Gor- 
donsville, was interrupted by two regiments of cavalry under 
W. H. F. Lee, while Stuart, with Fitz. Lee's brigade, crossed 
at Raccoon ford, to be near the Confederate infantry. Next 
morning Stuart was between Hooker and Fredericksburg. 
"Mead's fifth army corps was now near Chancellorsville." 
(White's Life of Lee.) Official. 

April 30th Hooker reached Chancellorsville with 50,000 
men; 18,000 more were near, under Sickles. Sedgwick, with 
30,000, was on the right wing of General Lee's army. So the 
summing up of the situation seemed truly hazardous for 
General Lee. But conditions just like these gave activity to 
Lee's great genius as a strategist. Rising to the emergency of 
the occasion, he soon manoeuvred Hooker out of his first ex- 
cellent position and forced him to a line nearer the river, which 
Mas equivalent to the weakening of his army by 20,000 men, 
more or less. His first line around Chancellorsville was good 
and afforded excellent positions for the use of artillery, but 
Stuart's skirmish line impressed Hooker with the belief that 
Lee might interpose a force between him and the ford and thus 
cut him off in the event that a retreat was necessary. So 
Hooker gave up his vantage ground first selected, in order that 






Battle of Chancellorsville, Virginia. 21 

he might get closer to the river. "Thirteen thousand Federal 
cavalry were advancing against the railroad communications 
in Lee's rear." 

The general aspect of conditions as Hooker saw them was 
that Lee's army was encompassed within the folds of his great 
host, which inspired him with the thought that he had the 
finest army on the planet. To use his own language, in an 
address to his troops, he said: 

"Our enemy must ingloriously fly or come out from 
behind his defenses and give us battle on our own 
ground, where certain destruction awaits him." 

Hooker reckoned without his host. Lee did come out, but 
not to ingloriously fly, but to put Jackson in his rear, with the 
results which follow: 

Midnight, April 30th, Jackson was on his march from 
Hamilton's Crossing. May 1st, a large part of his corps was 
up to the support of Anderson, and in front of Hooker, Early 
and Barksdale, with Pendleton's artillery, remained near Fred- 
ericksburg to oppose Sedgwick. "Lee's army as it now stands 
is between Hooker's wings facing both ways and prepared to 
give a double battle." (White's Life of Lee, page 26.) 

Jackson, Anderson and McLaws now numbered 41,000. 
Early, with 8,000, was left to oppose Sedgwick. Lee at that 
time was near Fredericksburg and directing Early and Pendle- 
ton. He urged them not to be deceived by the pretended move- 
ments of the enemy. "After Lee left Fredericksburg he was 
joined b} 7 Jackson and they both rode together amid the shouts 
of the whole army." 

Hooker's position was thus (official report) : 

Fifth corps, Mead, fronted eastward, two miles long. 

Second corps, Couch, lay behind fortifications that rose 
south. 

Twelfth corps, Sloeum, was in a fortress, facing southward. 

The divisions of Berry and Whipple lay north of Chancel- 
lorsville. Birney's division of the Third corps supported by 



22 Battle of Chaneellorsville, Virginia. 

Williams. Eleventh corps (Howard) forming Hooker's right 
wing. - Hooker's rear was guarded by Syke's division. ( White's 
Life of Lee, page 263.) Eighty thousand troops, with large 
parks of artillery. 

"After sunset Lee and Jackson met near the Plank road. 
After ascertaining the location of Hooker's army, Lee called 
Jackson for a conference and pointed out on a map the direc- 
tion of the road to be taken by Jackson. In* this proposed 
great flank movement, for the audacity and the risk it entailed, 
we doubt if history ever recorded a parallel. Lee outlined the 
general plan of the attack and left the details with Jackson, 
who suggested the possibility of not only this flank movement 
on Hooker's right, but encompassing his entire right wing, get- 
ting in his rear, and cutting that part of his array entirely off. 
But Jackson's ignorance of the roads on this flank and rear 
attack necessitated his calling to his assistance an old man who 
had lived all his life in that section of the country. He was 
familiarly and affectionately known as "Uncle Jack Hayden." 
So under the guidance of "Uncle Jack" as pilot the movement 
was begun by Jackson's corps in the rear of Hooker. 

" On the old Furnace road in Spotsylvania, Rhodes led the 
old division of D. H. Hill, going westward through dense forest 
and jungle. The whole route seemed grown up with almost 
impassable undergrowth, which retarded the march, following 
Rhodes', Colston's and, lastly, A. P. Hill's division of light 
infantry — so known for their agile step and panther-like tread. 
These three divisions, in the order named, numbered 26,000,. 
which really constituted all of General Lee's army in front of 
Hooker, except a force of 14,000 which lay in front of Hooker's 
force of 80,000 men, and under the direct command of Lee 
himself. 

Jackson's column of invincibles on this march was flanked 
by four regiments of cavalry directly under the command of 
J. E. P. Stuart and Fitz. Lee. We can begin now to see how 
Lee was beginning to unravel the situation and get from out 
the toils of Hooker's immense force. "While Jackson was in. 
full march across Hooker's front the enemy's signal station 



Battle of Chancellorsville, Virginia. 23 

revealed this movement and after a council of war the Federals 
decided that Lee was falling back on Richmond and ran up 
some long range guns and began to shell Jackson's force." So, 
under the guidance of our faithful old pilot, "Uncle Jack 
Hayden," Jackson moved further south and marched west- 
ward on a parallel line. 

The enemy, thinking that Lee' was falling back on Rich- 
mond, ordered Sickles's army corps in pursuit, but they made 
but little progress when Lee attacked Sickles from the rear, and 
he was glad to get back and abandon the pursuit of Jackson, 
who steadily pressed on until this old Furance road fell into 
the Dowdal Tavern road at right angles. Reaching this road, 
Jackson's column headed directly north, where the Dowdal 
Tavern road fell into the Plank road, running from Fredericks- 
burg to Orange Courthouse, and right by Chancellorsville 
House. It was here that the services of "Uncle Jack Hayden" 
Mere no longer needed, for he had guided Jackson faithfully, 
now that he was on the flank of the enemy. In bidding fare- 
well to Jackson, I will let Uncle Jack tell in his own words what 
he said. (Bear in mind that "Uncle Jack" had a great deal 
of effrontery.) Here is what he said: 

"Now, General Jackson, I hear you give many orders, tell 
Rhodes,, Colston and Hill what to do. Now, before leaving you, 
I want to give you my orders." 

"What are they, Mr. Hayden," said Jackson. 

"That you should take care of yourself, for you are worth 
40,000 men, and if you should fall on this field, it would little 
matter what kind of victory you might win, it would be dearly 
bought." 

"Uncle Jack" little thought of the significance of his in- 
structions, for eight hours from that time chronicled the fall 
of the great Jackson. 

At this point upon the Plank road Jackson was two miles 
southwest of Howard's corps, which constituted the right wing 
of Hooker's army. "Leaving the Old Stonewall Brigade at 
this point of the road with Fitz. Lee Jackson pushed forward 



24 Battle of Chancellorsville, Virginia. 

north with his main column to the Orange turnpike." At ( 3 
P. M. Jackson had carried his force through an almost impene- 
trable thicket of vines and undergrowth and was now well in 
the rear of Hooker's right wing, while Hooker, totally ignorant 
of this movement, thought Jackson was well on his march 
falling on Richmond. So "the finest army on the planet," as 
Hooker called it, lay in blissful ignorance of these conditions 
just before its demise. 

Jackson's last message to General Lee, carried by Captain 
Smith, of his staff, was : "I hope as soon as possible to attack. 
I trust that ever a kind Providence will bless us with success." 

Rhodes' division was put in line of battle across the turn- 
pike two miles west of Dowdal's Tavern ; Jackson's left was 
directly in Howard's rear ; Colston formed the second line, and 
A. P. Hill immediately behind. (Official. White's Life of Lee.) 

Two or more hours were consumed in getting the above- 
named force into formation. Everything was ready at about 
5 :15 P. M., when upon the stillness of the air — a silence always 
preceded a battle as a calm does a storm — "the bugles sounded, 
accompanied by the Confederate yell," which always sent terror 
into the enemy's soul, and the rapid dash of this infantry 
started the deer and hare from their lair, which ran into 
Howard's corps. These denizens of the forest-wild were the 
advance of Jackson's attack, and while they startled these Ger- 
mans of Howard's, they as little dreamed that the Confederates 
were near as to suppose that they were entering Xew York, but 
when six cannons of Stuart's horse artillery opened fire and 
advanced rapidly, keeping up this fire, the Germans were per- 
suaded that something out of the ordinary was on hand. This 
centralized fire of Stuart's guns was brought to bear upon every 
group of men as they gathered together for formation : hence, 
it was impossible for Howard to form his men. Whither to 
flee, they knew not. Right behind Stuart's guns pressed the 
invincible infantry of Jackson, who charged through Stuart's 
guns and all obstructions of the enemy, carrying the whole of 
Howard's corps before them as chaff before the wind. Those 
of this corps who were not killed or wounded, were captured — 



Battle of Chancellorsville, Virginia. 25 

<mly a few escaping. Still the Old Stonewall corps pushed 
forward to larger conquests. Striking the advance of Carl 
Schurz's division, this division was entirely torn to pieces and 
scattered by Jackson's invincible host. "At this point, Col- 
quitt, commanding Rhodes' right, thought that, he saw a flank- 
ing force of the enemy, so he halted and faced about, and this 
delayed the onward sweep of Jackson one hour." This was 
almost fatal to our routing the entire right of Hooker's army 
from the field; for it gave the enemy in rear of Schurz time 
to get away. 

Still Jackson pushed on through brushwood and felled 
trees, until the enemy in his front had been entirely driven from 
the field in confusion, leaving their dead, wounded, and many 
stragglers in the hands of the Confederates. Darkness had 
now come down upon the field and Jackson called a halt to re- 
form his line, which, under the physical conditions named, was 
greatly scattered. He gathered up A. P. Hill's division and 
put them in front. He was now within one mile of Hooker's 
headquarters and held the road in rear of the Federal army, 
which was one and one-quarter mile distant. "Just at this 
junction the entire Federal army was just within his grasp." 
(White's Life of Lee, page 268.) Official. 

At 9 P. M. Jackson rode to the front of Hill's line, which, 
as we have said, had gone into formation again, prospecting in 
front of this column preparatory to another attack. He was 
fired into by some of the pickets on duty belonging to one of 
Hill's regiments in Lane's North Carolina brigade of Pender's 
division. These pickets, thinking that they were the enemy, 
fired into the party. .Two fell from this discharge. Jackson 
was here wounded and taken from the field. As the litter-bear- 
ers were carrying him off, the continued firing from this out- 
post wounded one of the litter-bearers. The consequent drop- 
ping of the litter increased the sufferings of Jackson greatly 
and rendered the wound more serious. General A. P. Hill rode 
by, and seeing Jackson carried from the field, was ordered by 
Jackson to advance his division. Hill, in going to the front 
to order the outpost in, was also fired upon and was seriously 



26 Battle of Chancellorsvillc, Virginia. 

wounded and had to be carried from the field. Thus we see 
in a few minutes two of the most efficient leaders in the Con- 
federate army were entirely eliminated from this important 
battle. Jackson then sent for Stuart to take command and 
press the enemy. This was around the hour of midnight. Get- 
ting his artillery in line and opening on the enemy, and while 
doing this effective work with the artillery, orders from Lee 
reached him to press Hooker's rear with infantry and drive him 
from his line at Chancellorsvillc House by main assault. This 
order, sent to Stuart, was followed by another to Jackson, 
which read as follows: 

"I have just received intelligence that you are 
wounded. I can not express my regret at the occur- 
rence. Could I have directed events, I should have 
chosen for the good of the country to be disabled in 
your stead. I congratulate you on the victory, which 
is due to your skill and energy. 

"Very respectfully, 

"Your obedient servant, 

"R. E. Lee." 

When this message was read to General Jackson, he quietly 
replied : 

"That was very kind of General Lee, but he should 
give the praise to God, who gave us the victory." 

The fall of Jackson seemed to have aroused all the com- 
bativeness and genius of Lee's nature. He said after sending 
off these dispatches : "These people must be pressed immedi- 
ately." The early dawn of May 3d found him in the saddle 
making ready for the battle afresh. The two wings of Lee's 
army were put in motion against Hooker's center, while Stuart, 
now coming into action with the Stonewall infantry, under the 
orders of Lee, was rolling the enemy's flank up like a scroll. 
Lee was now moving northward against Hooker's center. 
Stuart was pressing eastward against the same objective. So 
these two forces, advancing against the same point, "created a 



Battle of Chancellorsville, Virginia., 27 

formation like the letter V." Lee and Stuart's forces now 
numbering not over 36,000 men, less the casualties of the at- 
tack. Hooker's army totalled 85,000, less his losses. Over the 
ramparts and obstructions of all kinds Stuart's men rushed, 
and he at the head of the charge singing merrily "Old Joe 
Hooker come out of the wilderness." Old Joe Hooker, however, 
did not need any injunction of that kind, for he was getting 
out of the wilderness as speedily as the obstructions of the 
wilderness would permit. 

At Hazel Grove, as the fog of the morning drifted away, 
Stuart saw the advantage of a hill nearby for artillery. Upon 
this elevation he ordered Walker to put thirty pieces of his 
cannon in position. This was quickly done, when an enfilading 
fire was opened on a remaining column of the enemy's infantry. 
Hardaway, from a salient north of Walker, ran his guns up 
and opened on the flank of this column. They soon vanished, 
leaving their dead and wounded upon the field. 

A singular fact about Chancellorsville: Every attack of 
the Confederates' was successful and every position carried, 
and the enemy routed from every stand he attempted to make, 
and this, too, in the face of the fact that Hooker's array 
numbered 85,000 men, while Lee's was hardly 36,000 and Lee's 
the attacking army, and many points and salients carried by 
the Confederates against the enemy in entrenched positions and 
behind felled trees and tanglecl brushwood and other obstruc- 
tions. 

The summing up of the situation at 8 o'clock A. M. : 

McLaws was attacking Hooker's left from the east ; Ander- 
son was assaulting his center from the Furnace road (south- 
west) ; Stuart was pushing him with vigor from the right of 
his line, while Lee, coming up from the south, was advancing 
on Hooker's front. These forces, coming together at a point 
near the old Chancellorsville House, had driven from the field 
in ignominious flight what Hooker had termd "the finest army 
on the planet," converted by 8 A. M., May 3d, into a scattered 
mob. Every corps in Hooker's army lost their morale and 
was ready to flee at a moment's warning. 



28 Battle of Chancellorsville, Virginia. 

A shell from the Confederate artillery, knocking a porch 
column over on Hooker while standing in the porch of the 
Chancellorsville House, unfitted him for further duty. Ten 
o'clock, Fair View, Hooker's stronghold, was in the hands of 
the Confederates, and the Federal army was now in full retreat. 
Lee now came up and rode with his troops. The occasion was 
enough for a tremendous demonstration on the part of his 
veterans which is beyond the powers of description. 

The Confederate infantry, headed by Lee, was pressing for- 
ward after the fleeing columns of Hooker. The surrounding 
forests and jungles were in flames. I will let Colonel Charles 
Marshall, one of Lee's aides, describe this scene in his own 
language : 

"Lee spurred Traveller up to the burning house from 
which Hooker had fled. His presence was the signal for one of 
those unaccountable outbursts of enthusiasm which none can 
appreciate who have not witnessed them. These fierce soldiers, 
with their faces and ragged clothing blackened by the smoke 
of battle — the wounded even crawling with feeble limbs from 
the fury of the devouring flames — all seemed possessed with a 
common impulse. One long, unbroken cheer, in which the feeble 
cry of those who lay helpless on the earth, blended with the 
strong voices of those who still fought, rose high above the 
roar of battle and hailed the presence of a victorious chief. 
He sat in the realization of all that soldiers dream of triumph, 
and as I looked on him in the complete fruition of the success, 
which his genius, courage and confidence in his army had won. 
I thought that it must have been in some such scene that men in 
ancient days ascended to the dignity of Gods." 

Lee's first thoughts were concerning the wounded and the 
great danger that many were in on account of the fire raging 
about them. 

While Lee was making preparations for a renewed attack 
a courier came from Fredericksburg, notifying him of the situa- 
tion there. The day before a member of General Lee's staff, 
by mistake, ordered General Early to move from Hamilton's 
Crossing to Chancellorsville. Early's withdrawal, therefore, 



Battle of Chancellorsville, Virginia. 29 

permitted Sedgwick— then on the south side of the Rappa- 
hannock — to make an attack on Barksdale, commanding about 
1,000 men on Marje's Hill. This small force of 1,000 men 
could not stand an attack from Sedgwick, commanding over 
20,000 troops. Barksdale, however, resisted Sedgwick's at- 
tack before giving up the position and entailed a heavy loss 
upon his army. Early returned in time to stay the advance 
of Sedgwick and held him in check until Wilcox's brigade, by 
a rapid march from Bank's ford, reached Salem Church and 
was thrown across Sedgwick's front, which gave General Lee 
time to order and by forced march have McLaws join Wilcox 
with four brigades. That enabled the Confederates, thus re- 
inforced, to give battle to Sedgwick at Salem Church, whose 
army now numbered (with accessions since leaving Marye's 
Hill) 40,000 men. Carl Shurz speaks of this as one of the 
most brilliant moves in military history. This battle was of 
but short duration, when Sedgwick's line gave way and he fell 
back, retreating across the Rappahannock river at Bank's ford. 
If the student of military history will pause long enough to 
consider the directing genius of these two great military minds, 
Lee and Jackson, against overwhelming odds, besides the ad- 
vantage of position which the preponderating forces held at 
the beginning of this Chancellorsville fight, he could come to 
but one conclusion, vie. : That Lee and Jackson would stand in 
favorable comparison with the leading military men of the 
world, and we believe that nowhere, in any campaign, was a 
victory won against such overwhelming odds as those which 
obtained at Chancellorsville. 

On May 6th, when Lee got ready to assail Hooker's army 
again, they had all vanished, their whole line deserted, leaving 
behind their wounded upon the field. Before night Hooker, 
himself, had fallen back to Falmouth, where the remnant of 
his army joined him. Hooker there tendered his congratula- 
tions to his army. I cannot well see in what sense they could 
be construed. Certainly they needed congratulations in their 
escape from the toils which Jackson had thrown about them, 
and but for Jackson's untimely fall they could have had no 



30 Battle of Chancellorsville, Virginia, 

grounds for congratulation. Hooker's loss in this battle was 
17,000 men killed, wounded and captured, besides three army 
corps driven from the field wounded and shattered, while the 
morale of the army was broken. Reckoning Sedgwick's loss 
at Salem Church 4,400 men, which was really a part of the 
Chancellorsville battle, the total Federal loss was 21,000 men 
killed and wounded in that fight. Besides the above loss four- 
teen cannon were captured by the Confederates ; 20,000 stands 
of small arms, ammunition, ordinance, commissary and quarter 
master's stores, 35,000 knapsacks and other army equipment. 
The Confederate loss in killed and wounded was 13,000. 
The surprising part of this is that Lee did not sustain a 
heavier loss, as all the charges over ramparts, ditches and other 
obstructions were made by the Confederates in driving the 
Federals out of their strongholds. 

The South bemoaned many brigadier-generals in this fight, 
but the chief loss of all was the fall of Stonewall Jackson. 
Any victory, however great, would have been dear at such a 
price. 

Jackson was removed from the field and carried to Guiney's 
depot, twelve miles south of Fredericksburg. He died there, 
in Mrs. Chandler's kitchen, in the yard, May 10th. His 
passing, emphasized by his thoughts wandering upon fields of 
battle and the lurid flashes of the flickering flame of life, would 
burst forth in the command "Order Hill up." Then wander- 
ing amid scenes of Holier Realms, when his mind went back 
to his beloved Shenandoah, the river of sparkling waters, 
whose banks his genius had ever made historic, he turned as if 
gazing upon some far off but happy vista, with his last words, 
which will ever hallow the memory of this great and good man : 

"Let Us Cross Ovek the River and Rest Undeb the 
Shade of the Trees." 






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